An Algerian power company has agreed to buy 26 of the electricity-producing turbines that General Electric Co. makes in Greenville in what GE said is the local plant's second-biggest order in recent history.

GE spokeswoman Susan Waldron said the company doesn't expect to hire more employees at its Garlington Road manufacturing-and-engineering complex, where 3,150 people work.

"We expect our current employment levels will handle this volume," she said.

They are the biggest part of $2.7 billion worth of business announced Monday from an affiliate of Algeria's national power and gas company.

Also included in the total are 12 steam turbines and 38 generators that GE will make in Schenectady, N.Y., and 24 aeroderivative turbines made in Houston.

GE said the Greenville-made turbines will be used to build six combined-cycle power plants capable of generating eight gigawatts of electricity - enough for eight million Algerian households and to increase the country's energy capacity by nearly 70 percent. Three smaller plants also are planned.

Waldron said workers in Greenville have already begun to fill the order, with the first turbine scheduled to come off the assembly line by the end of the year. The Greenville plant expects to complete the work by the end of next year, she said.